Yesterday Lone Heron and I were having one of our long and ever more frequent conversations, and I told her I had agreed to take on two of Dana’s young pit bulls. They are nice dogs, I said, but undisciplined and hard to live with. Right now they rule the roost and are unruly as hell. “Things will change for them when they come here to live,” I said. “They’ll learn to mellow out.”
“Is it such a good idea to be taking on two at once?” she asked.
“If I can’t deal with the situation, then I have no business thinking about taking on kids up here,” I answered.
I have no doubt it will work out. I am not a heavy-handed disciplinarian, but discipline there does need to be. Maggie, Tony, and I have a copasetic and orderly life going here, and the new dogs will eventually conform. Yet I have no intention of “breaking” them and their high spirits. My “big stick” is the knowledge that dogs (and kids) desire more than anything to please, to be loved and accepted for who and what they are. My expectation of their compliance is stronger than their will to be disruptive.
They are just puppies, after all. And I am the alpha dog, the leader of the pack.
۞
Groove of the Day
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